Lemon-Miso Macro Bowl with Miso-Braised Swiss Chard and Lemon Chickpea Dressing

Sorry for the blurry photo. Temperatures are dropping and the days are getting longer. We seemed to have misplaced my tripod in our whirlwind of a maze home still being unpacked so I am working with what I can.

This was a delicious bowl of goodness. Brown rice at its base, with a side of lemony chickpea spread and a hefty helping of lemon-miso braised Swiss chard.

The dressing is more puckering than my typical hummus and uses lots of lemon juice instead of balsamic vinegar (which I used in my previous hummus dressing). I was almost worried it was too lemon-heavy but it was nicely balanced when added to the brown rice.

I was channeling my mustard-hummus rice bowl with roasted cauliflower and truthfully, I was not really thinking of macrobiotics originally. However with the touch of nori in the Swiss chard, it reminded me more of my previous macro bowl with the miso-tahini sauce.

I also ended up adding peanuts for a nice crunch, so feel free to add something similar.

The miso-braised greens was adapted from Plant-Powered for Life, quite an gem of a cookbook. The original recipe was Miso-Braised Collard Greens with Cashews, and you can tell I adapted it by swapping chard for collards and peanuts for the cashews. The cookbook is filled with healthy plant-based recipes, each attached to a healthy eating tip. This recipe was found under tip 7: Aim for at least six servings of veggies every day. The tips range from Make variety your motto to Remember fresh isn’t always best and Pay attention to heritage foods. With such variety of the tips, the resulting haphazardness of the order of the recipes is the unfortunate result and make this an unwieldly cookbook unless you sport an electronic copy. Otherwise, you have a good novella to skim through, picking up small tips to help eat a bit better.

Recipes from Plant-Powered for Life spotted elsewhere:

Farro and White Bean Veggie Burgers

Red Bean and Okra Jambalaya

Tofu Mushroom Tacos

Tortilla Soup

I am sharing this with Shaheen’s Eat Your Greens and Virtual Vegan Potluck.

Lemon-Miso Macro Bowl with Miso-Braised Swiss Chard and Lemon Chickpea Dressing

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 tbsp miso
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp onion granules
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
vegetable broth to reach your desired consistency (I used 4 tbsp for a runnier dressing)

1 tbsp miso
2 tsp coconut oil
2 tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon)
1/3 cup water
1 bunch Swiss chard, washed and coarsely chopped
1 tbsp shredded nori

cooked brown rice

unsalted peanuts

1. Begin by cooking your rice.

2. Make your dressing: Combine chickpeas, miso, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic and lemon juice in a food processor fitted with its S-blade. Blend until smooth. Ad vegetable broth to achieve your desired consistency. I went more runny to make this a dressing.

3. When your rice is almost done, make your greens: In a medium skillet over medium heat, place miso, coconut oil, lemon juice and water. Stir to dissolve. Allow to simmer 2 minutes until slightly thickened. Add Swiss chard and cover for 4 minutes. Do not stir. After 4 minutes, remove from heat and remove cover. Add nori and stir to combine.

4. To serve, place cooked brown rice in a bowl and top with Swiss chard and chickpea dressing. I topped mine with peanuts and I like the crunch they provided.

Serves 2.